WOODEN carvings that were installed in a Blackbird Leys park were vandalised just 72 hours later.

Four sculptures of animals were installed among the trees at Spindleberry Park last Thursday, along with a new path and information boards. Two of the sculptures, a deer and a blackbird, had parts broken off by Sunday morning.

The Conservation Volunteers, who are working in Blackbird Leys to improve green spaces, bought the statues with money from project funder Wren.

Oxford Mail:

Sculptor Matt Cave with the sculpture before it was vandalised

Creator Matt Cave, 36, said: “The blackbird alone would normally cost around £1,000, but it was for the park so I did them a good deal.”

One of the visitors was six-year-old Kian Ahmed, who goes to the park every day after school on his way home to Evenlode Tower.

His mum Nikita, 26, said: “I think it’s disgusting that they’ve been broken off, it was really nice to have something extra for kids on that path.”

Oxford Mail:

The Ahmeds with the vandalised deer statue

Blackbird Leys Parish Council chairman Gordon Roper said: “They get something nice and they’re going around and spoiling it.”

City councillor Scott Seamons added: “It might just have been kids climbing on them and they snapped off.”